Making your own power cards
eloquentaction
First Post
I'm fairly certain that the XML output from DDI isn't finished yet. Once it is, you create an XSD from it and C# auto-generates an interface based on the XSD. The interface allows you to read / write from the XML like it was a datasource.
I've already looked into this and it's extremely easy to code which means keeping up with any changes in the DDI XML document should be just a matter or issuing a maintenance release.
Plus, this gives us the ability to allow the users to edit the DDI result and re-save the results back to XML, which is definitely something I want going forward (though I doubt it will be in the first release).
As far as C#, there's a free C# compiler using the Mono library here: CSharp Compiler - Mono
I like C# because it's freaking easy to write 2 lines of code that do about 2,000 lines of java code and it runs far faster with better memory usage.
I've never used Python, when I've looked at Python code it's always made my head hurt (not to say it's a bad language, more of a character flaw).
I don't see the first version as very GUI-ish. It grabs the XML file, asks which PDF character sheet(s) you want to print to, asks where your MSE set is that you want to use, and then gets busy. More options and tweaking will come with later versions.
We should probably set up a site for the project where we can all chat without taking up this thread.
-- Hirahito
eloquentaction
First Post
I'm willing to do this.
But it would take more than myself to make this a 'standard'. We'd also need people like Ander to respond and re-release his set on the new standard.
Ander lurks here, but I'm not sure if he's willing to change his set.
Basically, it would mean the developers would have to get together and agree on a single GAME file.
It also means that we'd (most likely) have to standardize on a single set of icons with alternates out there if the players chose them.
The nice thing about this would be that, with a few tweaks here and there, a user could literally use any set designers template without losing any of their data.
Don't like the way us uppity card designers make our cards? Copy one of our templates and make your own. All the data will be the same, so you wouldn't have to start from scratch.
I'm already willing to re-write my C# card conversion application to handle the new format (if we can agree on one) and then release ALL of my original source files (as well as the notes on how to make them) to the public. Trust me, entering in the files in my raw format is 100 times easier than hand-typing it into each of the MSE fields.
It also means we could write a small app to export the data to the Open Office XML format so people like Grandpa wouldn't be left out in the cold. When the main card set got updated, Grandpa could export the new data and import it into his Powerpoint slides.
The juiciness for people to use the card data exported in a standard Open Office XML format cannot be over-stated. All kinds of applications could be written to use this format. Need to look up a power? Bamf - Card Lookup Utility. Want something that customizes the cards based on your DDI character sheet? SuperBamf - DDI Converter utility at your service.
But, as yet, this is all a pipe-dream.
-- Hirahito
catsclaw227
First Post
Or you could just download the free Visual Studio Express for C#.
I am also waiting to see the final XML that DDI will be using. I plan on developing some common libraries that will give a developer some simple import/export and serialize/deserialize methods for using the XML data.
catsclaw227
First Post
A quick question for everyone....
Where do you find 2.5 x 3.5 sheets of blank cardstock (preferably "precut", like all the 3.5 x 2 avery-style business cards) to match up with the size of a Magic Card?
Has anyone done some 3 x 5 card templates?
Where do you find 2.5 x 3.5 sheets of blank cardstock (preferably "precut", like all the 3.5 x 2 avery-style business cards) to match up with the size of a Magic Card?
Has anyone done some 3 x 5 card templates?
Thanks Thindaraiel, that 411 was very helpful, i have been having a blast with it all day, it don't look as good as the one i was doing in paint but it is taking 1/2 the time to do now. What i am going to do is do the first set with MSE then at my leaser do them in paint.
Thindaraiel
First Post
IIRC, the major templates published on this thread all started from a unique game file, initialized by Randolph. I did not analysed all templates, but I saw many corresponding infos in Tintagel's, Ander's, Hirahito's and Josiah's templates. I suppose this should not be too difficult to modify the game files in order to have the same basis infos.
But some other informations have real differences. For instance, Ander's template store the card color and shape as a unique value 'background' and the card "filling image" as a style property ; where my last template separates card color, shape and filling image as 3 fields "header color", "header shape" and "background".
Concerning the "filling image", for instance, my enhanced version of Ander's template proposes 4 values : Parchment, Marble, Shaded and Simple. Hihahito's version 4 proposes "leather", "light", "none" (and even other values depending on the style !). To standardize this, we should store a "code" value and create association tables depending on the style. It it to say, the menu proposes the different options depending on the style, but the value stored in the set would be "Img1", "Img2", etc... independently on its real appearance. The style will then interpret this value to find the corresponding image, for instance "Img1" will be "Simple" in my template and "None" in Hirahito's. It can be done, I already had some results with this kind of MSE code.
In the same way, icons can be style-dependant. The style file refers to its own set of icons, and the same keyword stored in the set file will be associated to different icons depending on the style you use. This had already been used by you, Hirahito, with the different mse-symbol-font in your v4.3 template.
I think that the main difficulty is to define
- which fields to define in common
- which values can these fields take (for non text, non numerical fields)
Every template author will then have to define a map between these constant values and his own style definitions.
I have no time for creating a dedicated website/forum for this discussion, but if someone creates such a site/forum, I will participate. I already had the idea some weeks ago of creating "bridges" between the different templates, by writing a conversion program or making the templates evolve to a common game file. The last solution seems to me more efficient to do.
eloquentaction
First Post
GAME file standards shouldn't cover looks and style. The card backgrounds (leather, wood, stone, etc.) should not be in the game file. The only reason the card color is in the GAME file is because it's germane to the type of card. Perhaps we should abstract the card color into the card types such as: at-will, encounter, daily, information, item, artifact, magicitem, ritual and so forth.
That way, each template could keep it's own consistency relating to the types of card being displayed. This would actually help with the b&w cardset I was creating.
A lot of the other fields can be made using the extra card fields that MSE allows you to add to the end of the style definition.
-- Hirahito
eloquentaction
First Post
I'm going to piece together the first draft of a 'common' GAME file and then throw it up on my site here.
Game developers, please download it and take a look to see if there's anything you think should be changed.
Remember, this is to be generic for all 4E sets going forward so it won't have my strange and non-standard 'Combined' fields and so forth.
-- Hirahito
